Adele Pays Tribute to Prince During Opening Show in Minnesota
Near Prince's hometown, Adele kicked off her highly anticipated 25 tour at St. Paul, Minnesota's Xcel Energy Center.
After closing out the set with her energetic song, "Set Fire to Reign," Adele disappeared behind the curtains. Then, the tribute started. The only guaranteed way not to fail at paying homage to Prince? Show a video of Prince performing his own song. In this instance it was the music video Prince's 1994 hit, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." When Adele returned for an encore, she shared that she felt inadequate to perform a tribute to the late virtuoso.
“I did maybe consider covering a song, but f--- it, it's Prince," she said according to Billboard.
This tribute comes after the largely criticized tribute by Madonna and Stevie Wonder at the 2016 Billboard Awards and the highly loved tribute by Erykah Badu, Bilal, Sheila E. and more at the 2016 BET Awards. When Sheila E. opened with the B-side jam, “Housequake,” it was immediately apparent that she was going to be highlight of the Prince tributes. And of course, as his longtime collaborator, muse and musical kindred spirit, she should’ve been.
This is a week full of remembrance of the music legend. An internet archive of Prince’s websites over the past 20 years, Prince Online Museum, also officially launched on July 4, exactly 10 years after his award-winning NPG Music Club closed.
Check out Adele's tribute below.